If I had to give a guess on how the child ended up dying from drowning hours after getting out of the pool, I would say it was probably the water he swallowed. It was still in his stomach when he layed down.During his sleep, he may have vomitted it back up and aspirated it.Just a guess of course.

I talked with a nurse I work with. She referred to it as dry drowning. I know I have swallowed water but his was inhaled. I think that is the confusion. Lord, just when I was trying to relax as a parent. Back to being a safety freak. Please Wltx do a follow up on how to know when to seek assistance when a child coughs in the pool. Pryers for the family.

I talked with a nurse I work with. She referred to it as dry drowning. I know I have swallowed water but his was inhaled. I think that is the confusion. Lord, just when I was trying to relax as a parent. Back to being a safety freak. Please Wltx do a follow up on how to know when to seek assistance when a child coughs in the pool. Pryers for the family.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C.— A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died last weekend several hours after he swallowed water in a swimming pool.

Goose Creek police say Johnny Jackson swallowed some water while swimming in a pool at his apartment complex around noon Sunday.

Police say he later complained he was tired and took a nap. When someone checked on him, water was coming out of his nose and he was having trouble breathing.

The boy later died at Trident Hospital.

Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad told the Charlestown Post and Courier of Charleston the boy's lungs were filled with water and he died of asphyxiation.

Rhoad said there was nothing suspicious about the death.

The boy, a fourth-grader called "Jon-Jon" by his family, essentially drown, medical experts told the Post and Courier.

Not all drowning deaths happen immediately. Other phenomena, such as secondary drowning, can occur as much as 72 hours later and without any warning signs.

Dr. Nelson Rosen, director of the trauma center a Schneider Children’s Hospital on Long Island, said secondary drowning is scary because there is a latent period where the victim looks as though they are fine.

"Any choking episode could be concerning," Rosen told FOXNews.com . "The only question is this: Everybody’s had a mouth full of water and choked, how do you know whether it will cause secondary drowning? I would say that if there is a significant episode to the point where people are concerned about the child’s well-being, then that should be investigated."

Rosen said parents should be on the look out for symptoms of respiratory or breathing problems, coughing and a "raspy" voice, as these could be indicative of injury to the lungs.

Although secondary drowning is a concern, it amounts to only 5 percent of total drownings, Rosen said.

"These are episodes that are not unheard of by any meaning, but even regular drownings are a relatively rare event in modern society," he said. "But I would still caution that any significant event be checked out in an emergency room. And if people now have a low threshold for these types of things, I would say that's fine. Better to err on the side of caution."

How horrifying! I also did some research after reading this and you can find info. online at the AAP. The medical term is actually "secondary drowning". It can occur anytime within 24hrs. of inhaling water. The lungs may or may not have fluid in them since secondary drowning can also be caused by your larnyx going into spasms as a result of having breathed in water. A person may have been able to clear the actual water from the airway without getting any in their lungs but later the larnyx will spasm in a similar but far more severe way that it spasms with croup. When water has actually been breathed into the lungs it then continues to irritate which in turn creates more fluid and eventually the lungs become filled with fluid and the person will die of asphyxiation if not treated soon enough. This type of secondary drowning happens much more frequently in salt water but can happen even in the bath tub. The APA also mentions that signs of potential danger following any event where water has been breathed in whether into the lungs or not are: a cough, being sleepy following the event and a horse voice. They also mention that it is important to watch for potential lung infections following this type of event due to bacteria, chemicals, fungi, etc.. that may have been present in the water. It is important to know that this is caused only by breathing in the water not by swallowing the water which does not cause secondary drowning.

<quoted text>He coughed up water, but not all of it. He went home, still felt sick and went to bed. Lying down probably caused any water left in his lungs to pool, sufficating him. It's kind of like a person who has had pneumonia, or is elderly and sick, lies around and fluid builds up around the lungs. They used to call this, "Old Man's Disease". This happens a lot in nursing homes when people are not mobile.

I was wondering a little bit about that too but this clears it up for me. this is such a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

I was also confused about the difference between aspiration and asphyxiation.Poor little fella.Poor mom and family.There but for the grace of god go I.My little girls are pool lovers.Early in their swimming experience this could have happened to my child or any child.So Sad.

Here are the definitions from Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary for aspiration & asphyxiation:

Main Entry: as·pi·ra·tion Function: noun: a drawing of something in, out, up, or through by or as if by suction: as a : the act of breathing and especially of breathing in b : the withdrawal of fluid or friable tissue from the body c : the taking of foreign matter into the lungs with the respiratory current

Main Entry: as·phyx·i·ate Function: verbInflected Form(s):-at·ed; -at·ingtransitive verb : to cause asphyxia in; also : to kill or make unconscious through inadequate oxygen, presence of noxious agents, or other obstruction to normal breathing

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